Post Season Play

September 1964 found me and at least six other classmates suddenly deaf and wearing hearing aids.

 

Hearing aids back then were big, clunky things with hooks that wrapped around your ear to prevent it from falling out.  Many guys had them – most were because of artillery noise during WWII and the Korean War.

 

The hearing aid excuse was lame, but essential to listening to my new AM transistor radio.

 

It was a gift for my First Communion, a rite celebrated in the Catholic faith.  Thank goodness I got one because the New York Yankees were vying for a pennant.

 

Mickey Mantle was their center fielder and doing well with the bat.  Joe Pepitone, Roger Maris, and Elston Howard were driving in homeruns, too.  The Series looked like a sure thing.

 

For some reason, many of the games were played during the afternoon hours, seriously crimping my school work in the fourth grade.  It was a decision that wasn’t easy but, I needed to fake deafness in favor of listening to the game on my radio.

 

A few other miscreants though this was good idea and followed suit.  The class resembled a Veteran’s Administration facility for midgets.

 

We thought we were fooling Sister Theresa, our block warden at St. Adalbert’s Elementary School.  It just so happens, Sister Theresa was a Yankees fan, too.

 

Pedro Ramos was pitching for the Bronx Bombers and winning.  Yogi Berra was their new manager.  All was well with the world.

 

The Yanks' 29^th pennant was in the bag and, with some fresh 9 volt batteries, the World Series seemed like a cakewalk.

 

The St. Louis Cardinals were the National League champs and hungry for the title of the best baseball team in the world.

 

Actually, since only American teams play, it should be called the United States Series.  But, it is not, and I didn’t name it.

 

Alas, the Cardinals wanted those rings more than the Yankees.  It was a seven game series that found St. Louis winning 4 – 3 games.

 

We were frightened the Vatican would be called to investigate after October 15^th since all seven of us made a miraculous recovery from our “ear woes.”

 

Sure, our ability to properly use glue and find East Germany on a map was diminished.  The good news is that the Vatican didn’t get involved, our contraband radios were not seized, I don’t use glue anymore, and East Germany doesn’t exist on any modern map.

 

And, Sister Theresa got regular score updates.